JD Simo in the VG New Gear Yearbook 2018

Watch JD Simo get funky with his favorite guitar – a ’62 Gibson ES-335 he has used on literally hundreds of gigs. One of eight amazing players featured in Vintage Guitar’s “New Gear Yearbook 2018,” Simo reveals how, as a child, he was obsessed with guitar licks played by Scotty Moore and Steve Cropper. He also tells why having to sink or swim in Nashville is spurring his greatest growth as a player. The “Yearbook” is sponsored by Sam Ash Music Stores Music Stores. READ NOW!!

Over the last few years, Buckcherry has offered a lot of music to fans – online via its monthly Singles Club releases, a greatest hits album, an EP, and it’s latest full-length release, Rock and Roll, which hits stores (including the band’s own, online) this month. Co-founder/guiding force Keith Nelson is a guitarist with a …

We’re saddened to hear of the passing of “Fast Eddie” Clarke, guitarist in the classic lineup of Motörhead with Lemmy Kilmister and “Philthy” Phil Taylor, both of whom died in 2015. In 1982, Clarke formed Fastway with UFO bassists Pete Way, which recorded seven albums. You can read our 2012 interview with Clarke below. Eddie …

Yamaha THR10 Price: $299 Contact: usa.yamaha.com. As a rule of thumb, practice amps are a compromise. Blissfully portable, they typically lack tone and features. Yet whether in a bedroom or hotel room, a practice amp should help inspire an artist by making practice more pleasure than chore. Yamaha’s THR10 is a definite step in the …

Popa Chubby is back on the road again, preaching the gospel to blues fans around the world. His new album, Universal Breakdown Blues, is a rollercoaster through the many facets of blues and rock. His stamp on tradition brings new life to the genre with a combination of tongue-in-cheek humor and mean guitar. Chubby plays …

Tech 21 Boost Pedals Price: $149 each, street Contact: www.tech21nyc.com Tech 21’s new Boost Series of fuzz, overdrive, and distortion pedals offers a compelling concept – premium effects with the ability to deliver a healthy output kick for solos or that big riff to bring it all home. The Boost Fuzz is Tech 21’s take …

Majik Box Paul Gilbert Fuzz Universe Custom Price: $329.99 retail Contact: www.majikboxusa.com Since Dave Simpson and Rob Nishida joined forces to form Majik Box, they’ve been the go-to stompbox company for guitarists like Doug Aldrich, Dave Navarro, James “Munky” Shaffer, and Victor Johnson. Their most popular offering is the Paul Gilbert Fuzz Universe. At Gilbert’s …

Though many collectors focus on instruments in fine original condition, every so often one emerges that, regardless of condition, is no less exciting than a paleontologist finding the “missing link.” Everything there is to know about the Gibson L-5 designed by Carl Kress can be learned from this example, with the model designation “Special” hand-written …

Bassist/vocalist Wayne Nelson has decades of experience with the Little River Band and was the first American to join the band (in 1980). He’s seen numerous changes in personnel, including his own departure from 1996 to ’99. The band recently released a new album, Cuts Like A Diamond. A native of Peoria, Illinois, Nelson grew …

Eastwood Marksman 5 Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.eastwoodguitars.com. Reviving great and unusual designs from the past has been the focus of Eastwood Guitars since their inception in 2001. For well over a decade now, Mike Robinson and his crew of guitar fanatics have resurrected classics from the likes of Airline and Mosrite. In doing so, …

The adjective “smooth” can sometimes get a bad rep, but as the new album by Bonnie Raitt readily shows, it can be a good thing, too. Her latest is the perfect blend of soul, technique, and brassiness that, as the great lead cut, “Unintended Consequence Of Love,” states “resurrects our strut.” The record is pretty …

The history of the musical instrument business is full of stories, from the drab to the miraculous. Some bean counters will busily push their way to the forefront, grabbing for a piece of history, while others quietly create. Seth Lover peers out at me from the doorway of his humble Southern California ranch house looking …

Bassist/vocalist Greg Lake, a force in the advent of progressive rock in the early 1970s with Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP), died December 7 following a battle with cancer. He was 69. This article originally appeared in VG the May and June 1994 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication …

The Fargen Olde 800 MKII Price: $1,949 Info: www.fargenamps.com. For 10 years, Ben Fargen has established a reputation for building amps based on British and American designs, and for offering aftermarket mods to expand/enhance other builders’ designs. Fargen’s new nod to the British stacks of yore is the Olde 800 Mk2. A 25-watt head fueled …

R.C. Allen, a noted luthier who built archtops for local and regional players of note and was a fixture at vintage-guitar shows in Southern California, died March 2. Allen was renowned for sharing his secrets of guitar building and was the last of the original electric-guitar builders in Southern California. Known for his archtops, he …

For decades, guitar players have known the name Epiphone. Renowned for making great-sounding jazz boxes like the Zephyr and Emperor Regent, which have been seen in the hands of major artists, and models like the Texan and Casino were key to the sound of The Beatles. Even blues legends like John Lee Hooker flocked to …

Bryant’s Brilliance“I thoroughly enjoyed Wolf Marshall’s piece on Jimmy Bryant (May ’18). Jimmy was an inspiration when I was starting to flatpick 58 years ago, and I’ve been thinking about him again recently. His collaborations with Speedy West from the early ’50s still sound futuristic today, but Speedy was making outer-space sounds on a console steel, without pitch-altering pedals and cams.” Read full letter... -Eric Thompson in Berkeley, CA

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We dig into the making of Blackberry Smoke’s new album with guitarist/frontman Charlie Starr.